


Chronicles of Tajiria - To Be the Very Best

by PuppyLuver256



Series: Chronicles of Tajiria [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Pokejinka AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2018-12-11 08:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11711028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuppyLuver256/pseuds/PuppyLuver256
Summary: A youth from Pallet Town prepares to head out on his journey across the land of Kanto...but not quite in the way you might expect! Unless you're familiar with Pokejinkas, which you likely are, in that case you might have a pretty good idea.





	1. A Pallet of Possibilities

It was a lazy summer afternoon in the small town of Pallet, and for Mikey Eubanks it couldn’t be spent in any better way than flipping through TV channels. He found himself flipping between two channels in particular, movie channels that featured the films Stand By Me and The Wizard of Oz. It was a bit humorous switching between the two and having the dialogue mix in unexpected ways, but in all fairness it was starting to get a tad old. He was considering turning off the cable box entirely and just booting up his old NES for a bit of classic gaming nostalgia when he heard a knock on the door. “Come on in,” he told whoever was outside his room.

The door opened and Mikey's mother stepped in. “What are you still doing here?” his mother asked. “Isn’t that thing you and the neighbor boy were doing supposed to be today?”

“Not for an hour or so, Mom,” Mikey said. “There’s no harm in me getting some entertainment in before setting off.”

“I just don’t want you to be late, that’s all,” his mother said. “I mean, it’s not every day your child gets a battle license.”

“Yes, Mom, I know,” Mikey said. “I’ve already got my backpack ready to go and everything.”

His mother nodded. “If you insist,” she said. She turned to leave the room, but popped her head back in briefly. “Oh, your father’s coming home to see you off, by the way,” she said. “Here’s hoping he’ll get here before you head out, right?”

“All right,” Mikey said with a smile. He checked the clock on the wall and decided that yeah, maybe his mother had the right idea about him leaving soon. He picked his backpack up off the floor, rummaging through it to make sure that he had all he would need for the first initial period of his journey, then slung it over his back and made his way downstairs.

Once he got downstairs, Mikey saw his mother sitting at the table with his sisters, his older sister holding her three-year-old son in her lap. “So you’re finally heading out, are you?” his younger sister Lisa asked.

“Yep," Mikey said. “Setting out to follow my dreams.”

“Hope your dreams are worth dropping out of school,” his older sister April said with a wink and a laugh.

“Very funny, April,” Mikey said. “You know I set up online classes while I’d be gone.” He then turned his attention down to his young nephew. “Hey there, Little Mike,” Mikey said in a softer voice. “You gonna miss Uncle Big Mike while he’s on his adventure?”

“Big Mike, where ya goin’?” Little Mike asked.

“Wherever life takes me, kiddo.” Mikey laughed. He then reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a ring with what looked like a marble affixed to the top. “Here, something to remember me by while I’m gone.”

Little Mike stared at the ring for a bit, then looked up at Mikey. “It’s too big,” he said.

“Eh, you’ll grow into it.” Mikey smiled. “Well, I’m off to the lab then.”

“You’ll come back before you leave town, right?” his mother asked.

“Sure, Mom,” Mikey said as he headed out the door.

As Mikey made his way to Professor Oak’s laboratory, he waved to neighbors that he passed by. He felt a surge of excitement with each upbeat step. He was going to make a name for himself in the Kanto Battle League! Not just himself, of course, but the other inevitable members of his battle team. He wondered what kind of people would join him on his journey; of course, he would have to get his team registered first before he could recruit anyone.

He soon arrived at the lab, where someone was already waiting outside for him. Mikey smiled. He would recognize that errant mop of hair and cocky smirk anywhere. “Hey, jackass,” Mikey said in a clearly joking tone.

“Sup, meathead,” Hunter Oak replied in a similarly joking manner. They both laughed at their typical greeting. “So, you getting your battle license today too?”

“You bet,” Mikey said, grinning. “I’m taking the gym scene by storm. Everyone’s gonna be cheering my my team's names once we become champions!”

“I think you mean _my_ team’s names,” Hunter insisted. “I don’t doubt you’ll be able to clear the gyms, but we both know who the stronger battler is when it comes down to it.”

“We’ll just see about that.” That childhood rivalry between the two young men was flaring up again, and Mikey couldn’t be more excited for it.

The two entered the building and made their way to the back of the rather open-plan laboratory, where a man dressed in a lab coat and professional-looking attire was waiting for them. To be fair, mostly everyone there besides Mikey and Hunter were dressed similarly, but they were familiar enough with Professor Oak to be able to pick him out from the rest. “Ah, Mikey, Hunter, welcome!” Professor Oak greeted them warmly. “Today’s the big day. Are you two excited?”

“You bet I am, Gramps,” Hunter said.

“I’ve been waiting for this day since I was a little kid,” Mikey said.

“Well then, let’s get started.” Professor Oak handed them both a form with a pen, and they began to fill out the information. The information was pretty straightforward with general identification details, their title (Mikey assumed that detail could be changed later on, as he had no intention on staying “Squirtle” forever), whether or not their team's membership would be restricted to certain types, and finally the team's name.

The team name. Mikey hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Uh, Professor?” he asked. “Do I need to put in a team name right now?”

“Not immediately, no,” Professor Oak reassured him. “In fact, many teams never have formal names, rather being identified by the registration number. If you do come up with a name later, you’ll have to update your registration information to fit, but that can be done at any town center.”

“All right.” Mikey handed his form, sans team name, back to the professor.

“Well, I’ve already got my team’s name figured out,” Hunter said smugly, handing his form back as well.

Professor Oak looked over both forms, raising an eyebrow at his grandson’s. “But...there’s no team name listed here,” he said.

Hunter looked a bit nervous. “I, uh, didn’t want to give it away just yet.”

“A likely story,” Mikey playfully jabbed.

Professor Oak took the forms, along with two blank cards, and turned to a computer on the other side of the desk. He entered all the information from one of the forms, plugged one of the cards into the side of the computer, then removed the card and repeated the steps with the other card. He then handed the cards, which already had the pictures of their owners on them, to their new owners. “There you go, boys,” he said. “It’s that simple. These cards get you access to free lodging at any town center, automatically track your wins and losses, allow you to earn winnings from your battles, receive discounts for battle-specific items at shops, and anything else you might need for your travels. Now, when you have any major change to your team like a new member or someone’s title shifts, you plug this into the computer at the town center—or here, if you’re still in town—and you can access the team information and make any necessary changes. And you’ll be able to change your team name as well when you think of something good, but keep in mind that too many changes is liable to get you a fine.”

“Well, I think that about covers everything.” Professor Oak clapped his hands together, a proud smile on his face. “I wish you boys good luck in your respective journeys.” He winked at Hunter. “Especially you, grandson. Make me proud.”

Hunter turned to Mikey with a smug grin. “Hey, what do you say we square off for old time’s sake?” he asked.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Mikey replied.

“Not in here, boys!” Professor Oak exclaimed. “I thought we learned from last time! If you’re going to battle, take it outside like proper adults.”

Mikey and Hunter both gave Professor Oak a weird look. “We’re both 16,” Mikey said.

“You know what I mean,” Professor Oak said with a sigh. Regardless of the technicalities, the two newly registered battlers made their way outside, with Professor Oak following to supervise their first official battle.

The two guys took their places a good six feet or so away from each other to start on a somewhat even level. Mikey removed his backpack and placed it on the ground, then made sure to get in some stretches before they began. “Ready whenever you are, asshat,” he said with a laugh. Hunter said nothing as a retort, but instead ran towards Mikey and tackled into him with his shoulder, knocking the wind out of him. Mikey grabbed onto Hunter’s arm and threw him off, nearly but not quite knocking him off his feet.

Mikey took the chance he had and hit Hunter with a shoulder tackle of his own, which he was able to weather a bit more than the one he had dealt. “A bit rusty, are we?” Hunter taunted. With a slight nudge of his foot, the neighbor’s unsuspecting gladiolus fell under his command and had soon wormed its way around Mikey’s leg, lifting him and sent him into an unbalanced spin.

“Using Mrs. J's garden against me again?” Mikey laughed. "Surely her babies have been through enough with us by now!”

Shaking his leg free of the now limp flowers, Mikey wiggled his fingers in front of him and began to generate small orbs of water over his hand. He lobbed the water orbs at Hunter, and while he managed to block his face from the impact he was still struck by each orb. His jacket now soaked, Hunter waved his arm out toward the unfortunate gladiolus and commanded it to slap Mikey repeatedly. Slap after slap, the red mark on Mikey’s arm was starting to develop some pain along with it even as he tried to move out of the way. Thinking quickly, he ran at Hunter once more and slammed into his torso, knocking him to the ground.

“The battle’s over!” Professor Oak declared. “Mikey is the winner!”

Mikey held out an arm to help Hunter up, which he gladly accepted. “Good fight, dipstick,” Hunter chuckled.

“Back atcha, nimrod,” Mikey said.

“I’d better get on the road,” Hunter said. He picked up his own bag, which he placed on the ground near Mikey’s, and made his way toward the main road heading out of town. “Smell ya later,” he added as he headed off.

“Yeah, wear deodorant next time!” Mikey called after him. He grabbed his backpack and turned to Professor Oak. “I’m gonna head back home real quick, see the family before I leave for real.”

“That’s very considerate of you,” Professor Oak said. “I hope Hunter’s at least going to let Daisy know he’s leaving before skipping town.”

Mikey waved to Professor Oak as he himself made his way down the road and back home. As he approached his house, he began to pull out his newly acquired battle license when he noticed a car parked in the driveway that hasn’t been there when he left, a familiar man coming out of the driver’s side door. He sped up. He knew exactly whose car that was.

He nearly plowed his father over in an excited hug. “Whoa, hold on, Mike!” his father exclaimed. “Let me at least get in the house first!”

“Sorry, Dad,” Mikey said. “Just really glad I got to see ya before I left.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” his father asked. He then seemed to understand what Mikey was talking about. “Oh, that was today? Well then, show me your license, I wanna see if they used the stupid picture.”

“Already had it out.” Mikey held out his license, showing his father that yes, they had indeed used the “stupid picture”, one of his yearbook photos where he was making a fairly disgruntled face due to having been asked to remove that orange headband he had worn nearly daily during that year.

“Looking good as always,” his father said with a chuckle. “Well, let’s get you inside for a proper send-off. I’ll bet you anything Mom’s making a special lunch to celebrate.”

The two entered the house and sure enough, a meal had already been set out. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni, bread rolls, and April had even made her signature chocolate silk pie for desert. Also present on the table was an unfitting yet absolute favorite dish of Mikey’s, crab cakes. The family was soon eating together and chatting happily, congratulating Mikey on his first official win and wishing him luck in his future travels. When he had eaten his fill, Mikey put his barely eaten crab cakes in a napkin for the road, and after thinking about it put a piece of pie in a small food container to take along as well. He gave everyone present a farewell hug, even Lisa who tried to escape by claiming one of her friends had just called her, and set out for real.

Mikey made his way toward the road heading out of town. He took in a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. “Well, this is it, Mike,” he said to himself. “It’s like they always say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

“Not even a day as a licensed battler and you’re already making cheesy philosophy references?”

That voice, he recognized it instantly. Mikey turned to see a guy around his age dressed in a smart tan jacket, with very distinct dark markings under his eyes. “Hey, Zephyr!” he exclaimed. 

“You’re not leaving town without saying goodbye to your best friend, are you?” Zephyr asked, holding out his arms for a hug. Like Hunter, Zephyr had been one of Mikey’s friends since they were kids.

“No, I guess not,” Mikey said, embarrassed he had almost forgot. “How’d you even know today was the day?”

“My dad told me, duh,” Zephyr said. Of course he would’ve known, Zephyr’s father worked as one of Professor Oak's lab assistants. “So, you gonna at least let me give ya a hug for the road?”

“Come on in here, bro.” The two embraced, patting each other on the back to end it off.

“I’m gonna miss you, Mike,” Zephyr said. “I really am.”

That’s when something occurred to Mikey. Battle licenses were only necessary for team leaders. “You know,” he said, a bit hesitantly, “maybe this doesn’t have to be goodbye for us.”

“Beg pardon?" Zephyr asked.

“I mean, there's nothing stopping you from comin' along, right?" Mikey asked. "I don't wanna get in between you and whatever direction you had planned for your life, but I could always use a strategist."

“Oh, that's a great idea!" Zephyr exclaimed. "I-I'll totally come along!"

“All right!” Mikey said, pumping his fist into the air. “Team whatever-the-hell-that-long-ass-number-was is a go!”

“You mean you haven’t come up with a name yet?” Zephyr asked. "Well since Hunter left at the same time, how about...Verdantia? ‘Cuz he’s grass and grass is green, kind of a joke about him?”

“That’s incredibly petty and just the kind of thing we would pull on one another, I love it.”

And together, with the mental note to get that name registered once they got to the next town, Mikey and Zephyr set out.


	2. A Spark of Enthusiasm

Mikey and Zephyr made their way north toward the neighboring Viridian City. Mikey had been feeling a bit snacky, so he took out the crab cakes his mother had made and shared the one that hadn’t yet been started on with his friend. “I always forget how good your mom’s crab cakes are,” Zephyr said in between bites.

“Yeah, I’m gonna miss ‘em,” Mikey said as he finished off his. “Something to look forward to once we can come back, huh?”

“We only just set out and already you’re thinking about when we’ll go home?” Zephyr laughed. “Ye of little faith or something?”

“Well, it’ll help in keeping our morale up to think of the people we left behind,” Mikey said. “Makes it easier to leave, I think, knowing they’ve got our backs.”

“I don’t know if Dad’s got my back,” Zephyr mused. “I mean, it’s not like I told anyone I was leaving...”

“You didn’t?” Mikey asked. “No call or text?”

Zephyr shrugged. “Your offer was spur-of-the-moment, I just figured it was a good idea and went with it. I can tell ‘em once we get to a good resting point.” He took another large bite of his crab cake and, after swallowing, said, “Besides, I’m a legal adult with no restrictions. I’m not exactly obligated to ask permission if I feel like leaving.”

“True.” Despite the two-year disparity in their ages, Mikey and Zephyr had always been pretty close. At least Zephyr wouldn’t have to worry about keeping up with his schoolwork, having already graduated and deciding to take a gap year. “Hey, I just thought of something,” Mikey said. “You know how you said you were still looking into colleges? What if we’re still taking on the league when schools start up? What are you gonna do?”

“Don’t know,” Zephyr said.

“I just...I hope you’re not gonna regret coming with me,” Mikey said. “I’d hate to be the one holding you back from your academic dreams...”

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Zephyr laughed. “If I had any doubt in accompanying you, I would’ve stayed behind.”

Mikey smiled, shoving the last of his crab cake into his mouth.

\-----

Soon enough, the two had arrived in Viridian City. They had left early enough in the day to where they thought it wouldn’t start getting dark yet, but the moon was already faintly visible in the sky and the sun, while not truly setting yet, was starting to look a bit dimmer. Mikey took in the scenery around him. He hadn’t been to Viridian City in a while, and while it honestly wasn’t quite what one would call a “big city”, it was the closest thing that one could presumably call a big city to Pallet Town, so his mind always thought of it as such. Viridian at least had a battler’s center, which has been where he first become inspired to form a battle team of his own.

Mikey stared at the outside of the battler's center in a reverent awe. “This is it, Zeph,” he said. “One step into this place, and it’ll all be real.”

“It’s already real, dude,” Zephyr chuckled.

“It’ll feel more real to me,” Mikey said.

They approached the doors to the battler’s center, which slid open as they stepped close. It was almost exactly how Mikey had seen it that day years ago when he had been a rambunctious little scamp wandering into buildings he had no business being in while his mother and older sister had been distracted. It was, of course, updated to keep up with the needs of the times, but the basics were all still there. There were some tables with chairs placed by them, as well as comfy couches lining the walls. Televisions were placed in two corners of the room, one of which was currently tuned to a sports channel and was being watched by some very enthusiastic fans. A staircase led upstairs where people of certain titles could charge energy together in order to trigger new powers, as well as an arena for friendly battles in a safe environment and some bedrooms for those who would stay at these centers overnight. The main feature of the battler’s center, however, was the reception desk with a nearby computer used to log battle team details, such as new members and team name changes.

Mikey made his way to the receptionist, his newly acquired battle ID in hand. “Good afternoon, young man,” the receptionist said with a friendly smile. She then glanced out the front window. “Or maybe I should say ‘good evening’ at this point?" She let out a small, friendly laugh, and then asked, “What can I help you with?”

“I was wondering if I could use the terminal real quick,” Mikey said.

“Of course!” the receptionist said, motioning to the computer beside them. “Do you need any help using it?”

“No, I think I can figure it out,” Mikey said. “Thanks, though.” He stepped over to the terminal and scanned his battle license. Almost immediately, the terminal brought up an interface for checking his team’s data. _Time to get that obnoxious string of numbers out of here,_ he thought. He quickly typed in the name he and Zephyr had decided upon: “Verdantia.” He hoped that the spelling he had chosen was appropriate, given that he wasn’t quite sure if it was a real word or not.

He looked over at Zephyr, who had found himself a quiet corner of the center and was talking on the phone with someone. He assumed he was talking with his dad, letting him know where he had gone. The two had always been pretty close; in fact, it was Zephyr’s closeness with his father that had led to him becoming one of Mikey’s best friends along with Hunter, as both of them liked to hang around Professor Oak’s lab and that was usually where Mikey would go to meet up with either.

Just as he finalized the updates to the team files, Mikey's own phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered without taking the time to look at the contact it was from. “Yo.”

“ _Hey, Mikey!_ ” Hunter’s voice cheerfully exclaimed from the phone. “ _How goes it? You got your team some members yet?_ ”

“Oh hey, Hunter,” Mikey said. “Yeah, I’ve already got a second member. You remember Zephyr, right?”

“ _How could I forget?_ ” Hunter chuckled. “ _I actually tried to find him to get him on my team, but I guess he skipped town with you before I could get a hold of him._ ”

“Really?”

“ _Yeah, coulda used a strategist early in the team development._ ”

Mikey frowned. “I asked him to join because he’s a friend.”

“ _That too,_ ” Hunter said. “ _That's why he’d be a good strategist for the early battle team, he’s smart and he knows our battle styles pretty well so he can plan accordingly. You got lucky snagging him before me, you know?_ ”

“Yeah, guess so." Mikey then realized just what Hunter had said. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘early battle team’?”

“ _Well, the people who join with you early on aren’t necessarily going to be permanent members, at least that’s what I’ve always been told,_ ” Hunter said. His tone was so matter-of-fact, as if what he was saying was supposed to be something obvious to everyone.

Mikey decided to change the subject rather than give too much thought to what Hunter might’ve truly meant. “So, uh, did you ever figure out a name for your team?” he asked.

“ _Uh, of course I have,_ ” Hunter said. He seemed just as hesitant about this topic as Mikey had felt about the previous one. “ _What about you? You come up with one yet?_ ”

“Sure have,” Mikey said. “As of just a few seconds before you called, we’re officially Verdantia. What’s yours?”

“ _...Lazuli._ ” A good four or five seconds of silence had preceded Hunter’s answer, so Mikey suspected he had either forgotten it or had just come up with it on the spot. Most likely the latter. “ _Yep, my team is called Lazuli. I, uh, haven’t gotten around to making it official yet, but that’s totally what the name of my team is and I came up with it at least an hour ago._ ”

“Yeah, sure,” Mikey said playfully.

“ _Well, I gotta go,_ ” Hunter said abruptly. “ _Take care of yourself, okay?_ ”

“Will do, and back atcha," Mikey said. He hung up, then made his way over to where Zephyr was sitting. “It's all taken care of, dude,” he told him.

“That’s good,” Zephyr said. From the looks of things, he had already finished his own phone call. “Um, who were you talking to just then?”

“That was Hunter,” Mikey said. “He wanted to check up on his old pal. Funnily enough, he said he wanted to get you on his team as well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And he says he got his team named too, but I’m betting he just came up with one right after I told his ours, hehe.”

“Nice.”

“Well then...” Mikey adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. “Should we get going?”

“Yeah, probably,” Zephyr said. “Might as well try and hit Viridian’s gym while there’s still at least a little daylight left.”

“Pardon me,” the receptionist interrupted them. “Did you say you were going to visit Viridian Gym?”

“That’s right,” Mikey said. “Why, what’s wrong?”

The receptionist grimaced. “You’re from out of town, aren’t you?” she asked, and they both nodded. “That explains why you didn’t know,” she said. “You see, Viridian Gym’s leader has been away on business for quite some time. And since he had no one to take his place while he was away, or at least that’s what’s been going around, the gym’s been closed for months.”

“What?!” Mikey groaned. “You gotta be freaking... Okay then, if that’s the case, where’s the next closest gym?”

“Oh, that would be Pewter Gym,” the receptionist said. “It’s of course in Pewter City, so you’d have to go through the forest path, but it’s very much active at present and its leader is taking challenges almost daily.”

“Okay, cool,” Mikey said. “Thanks a ton, ma’am.” He and Zephyr spent the night at the center, leaving the next morning and stopping by the nearby store to pick up some supplies, and then made the trek northward.

\-----

The northern road heading out of Viridian was considerably easier going than the long and winding path they had taken from Pallet. It was wide and straight, and apart from the hung-over old man lying belligerently in the middle of the road and his granddaughter trying to coax him back into a standing position, the travel from Viridian was initially uneventful (though they did stop to offer the old man one of the coffees they had bought to aid in his hangover). Soon they had reached a gatehouse, the outside of which had ivy covering it in such a manner that clued passerby in to what lay beyond its further exit, but not to where it would make the place look abandoned. “Viridian Forest Gatehouse,” Zephyr read aloud. “Not gonna lie, I’m not too big on forests.”

“There’s not really any other way to get to Pewter City from here,” Mikey reminded him. “Besides, there are gatehouses here. Nearby civilization. Nothing too terrible’s going to happen, right?”

“I guess,” Zephyr said with a shrug. “Do you think people still live in the forest?”

“Maybe a few,” Mikey said.

They made their way through the gatehouse, exiting through the opposite doors into an area that was considerably darker than the cloudless sky they had previously been in. The foliage of the trees around them blocked out most of the sunlight, covering the forest in a vague darkness that seemed eerie yet inviting.

“It’s actually kinda soothing,” Mikey said. “Though there might be other battlers hanging out in here.” It was fairly well known that Viridian Forest and locations like it were well favored by those looking for situational training.

“Yeah, most likely,” Zephyr agreed. “Let’s just try to get through here as quick as possible. I’m feeling a bit claustrophobic.”

They kept on the path, listening to the various sounds of the forest as they traversed. As they kept going, however, they could hear the tree branches above being disturbed. “Any idea what that could be?” Zephyr asked.

Mikey shook his head. “No idea.”

The sound of the branches’ disturbance grew louder, followed by a loud crack and an obscene word shouted out in a guttural scream. Mikey and Zephyr turned to look at each other, the shock clearly written in both their faces, then ran deeper into the forest toward the sound. They soon came across a pile of broken branches underneath one of the trees, and sprawled out along the branch pile was a boy who looked to be about Mikey’s age dressed in yellow. His face was twisted in a grimace of pain, and he was muttering curse words under his breath. “Hey, are you okay?” Mikey asked. "Need a hand?”

“I think I’ll be fine,” the boy said, wincing from the pain of his fall despite what he said. “Nothing’s broken, at least.” He tried to get himself into a sitting position, but ended up just flailing about. “On second thought, I might need that hand for just a bit.”

“Sure, hang on a sec.” Mikey and Zephyr stepped over one of the branches to get closer, each having a hand outstretched for the boy to take. He grabbed both of their arms, but almost as soon as he had done so they reflexively pulled away—a powerful shock had gone through them. “The heck was that?!” Zephyr shouted.

“Sorry about that,” the boy said with a laugh. “Guess I built up some static during that fall, hehe. Give it another try?” They gingerly held out their hands again and the boy took hold, thankfully not shocking anyone this time, and they pulled him to his feet. “Thanks for that,” the boy said, dusting himself off. “So what brings guys like you around here? Lemme guess, you’re a battle team.”

“Yeah, how’d you guess so quickly?” Mikey asked.

The boy waved his hand dismissively. “Oh _please_ , this is pretty much a natural training ground for battle teams,” he said with a smirk. “Not to mention it’s smack in the middle of two gym towns, and you with the blue hair would stick out like a sore thumb around here anyway.” His smirk turned into a genuine grin. “The name’s Spark, by the way. Nice to meet ya.”

“Mikey, and that’s Zephyr,” Mikey said.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Zephyr added.

“So, since you guys are a battle team and all, can I ask you something?” There was an anticipatory gleam in Spark's eyes, and while Mikey could already guess what his question would be, he nodded rather than vocalize his guess. “You guys wouldn't happen to be looking for new recruits, would ya?”

“Well, I don’t know if it was something we were actively considering at this point,” Zephyr mused. “I’m certainly not opposed to it. What do you think, Mike?”

“It’s only the two of us at the moment, but I’d say the more the merrier,” Mikey said.

“Do you think maybe I could come along?” Spark asked, practically bouncing in excitement.

Mikey thought for a bit. “You’re a Pikachu, right?” he asked, and Spark nodded. “If I remember correctly, Cerulean’s gym is water-themed, and having electricity on our side would help. Sure, you can totally join!”

“YES!” Spark jumped in delight. “Thank you so much, you won’t regret this, I promise! My house is just through the forest, we can get some supplies once we get there.”

“We actually stocked up back in Viridian," Zephyr said.

“Okay, let me re-word that,” Spark said. “I need some supplies, some things that I doubt very seriously you guys have.”

“All right, then.” Mikey didn’t bother questioning what these supplies were, probably specific medical necessities that neither he nor Zephyr required, or otherwise something very sentimental. Either way, it likely wasn’t something to worry about.

The now trio continued along the forest path, passing training battlers along the way. Most of them were using bug-like styles of fighting, with the occasional flyer. As the trees began to grow thinner, Mikey could make out the distant shape of a house, just as Spark had said there would be. Spark ran ahead, approaching the front door and knocking repeatedly. “Mooooom!” he called out. “Your boy’s hoooome! Got something to teeellll yooouuuu!”

The door opened and a middle-aged woman with short brown hair emerged, a young blond girl clinging to her leg. “Well, you’re back early!” the woman said warmly. She then noticed Mikey and Zephyr behind him. “Oh, hello there. What brings you two here?”

“We’re a battle team,” Mikey explained. “Spark wanted to join up with us and we said okay, and he wanted to grab some stuff before we headed on.”

“A battle team, you say?” Spark’s mother smiled. “Isn’t that lovely? Spark has been wanting to get out and see the world by quite some time, and I’m so glad he’s found his opportunity.”

“Mom, please,” Spark said with an annoyed groan. “Can’t leave without my stuff...”

“Oh, pardon me, where are my manners?” Spark’s mother moved aside to let the boys through the door, motioning for Mikey and Zephyr to come in as Spark ran through and up the stairs. “Come, have a seat,” Spark’s mother said, leading them to a sofa with a coffee table placed in front. “You must be exhausted from your traveling. Can I offer you boys a drink while Spark is getting ready?”

“That would be nice, thanks,” Mikey said, taking a seat on the couch in the living room. Zephyr sat beside him, and soon enough the two were provided with glasses of fruit juice.

“It's so nice to see Spark making new friends,” Spark’s mother said warmly, patting her young daughter on the head as she sat on the floor and went back to her coloring. “He hasn’t been very social lately aside from us and social media, and everyone he talks to there seems to live in Unova or Alola from what he’s told me.”

“Internet friendships can be just as strong as friends you meet in person," Zephyr pointed out.

“Oh, I know that,” Spark’s mother said. “Still, I figure not being able to meet up in person and talk face to face must be a bit sad for him. So, where are you boys headed to first?”

“Pewter City, ma’am,” Mikey said. “We’re both from Pallet and the Viridian gym wasn’t open, so we’re hoping to get our first badge there."

“Just starting out, huh?” Spark’s mother smiled. “I wish you the best of luck, then.”

Stomping could be heard coming down the stairs, and Spark was carrying a pack presumably filled with the things he had needed. “All right, Mom, I’m ready to go,” he said. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek and turned to Mikey and Zephyr. “You guys ready, too?”

Mikey nodded. “Yeah, we can leave whenever.”

“Wait just a minute,” Spark’s mother said. “I want to give you something before you head out.” She made her way to a closet, opening it and pulling a lightly dust-covered box from within. “I was going to save this for your birthday, but since I don’t know when you'll be coming home...” She held the box out to Spark and carefully opened the lid.

Upon seeing the contents of the box, Spark’s eyes widened considerably and his jaw dropped a bit. Sitting snug in an indention in the box was a fist-sized green stone, glossy and reflective, with bright gold veins in its structure that resembled bolts of lightning. “Is that...” he said, barely able to get the words out in his surprise. “Is...is that a Thunder Stone? Like, a real one?”

“I got it in that trip I took to Celadon a few weeks back,” Spark’s mother said coyly. “Feel free to use it whenever you’d like, or if you’d prefer just keep it as a nice little trinket.”

Spark took the stone from its place in the box, small tears in his eyes. It had a golden chain attached to one end, enabling it to be worn as a necklace. He slipped it around his neck and immediately pulled his mother into a tight hug. “Thank you so, so much,” he said, choking up.

“Just promise me one thing,” Spark’s mother said, returning the embrace. “Call me whenever you can, and remember you’re always welcome if your journey brings you back home.”

Spark nodded. “I will, don’t worry.”

Just as the three guys were about to leave, the little blond girl gave Spark a hug around his middle, which she could barely reach. “You be good, okay, Sparky?” the girl said in a soft voice. “Eat your veggies and don’t talk to creepy strangers like Mom always says, all right? I love you.”

“Looking out for your big bro as always,” Spark said with a laugh, ruffling the girl’s pigtails playfully and receiving a giggle in return. “Don’t you worry, Eva, I’m gonna be just fine. Love you, too.”

One last hug between Spark and his mother, and the three of them made their way out the door. Despite not having any major victories just yet, the team was off to a great early start. Three members before their first gym was an accomplishment of some sort, right? Either way, they felt confident that they could take on whatever was ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the road to and from Viridian City, hehe. I remember years ago when I tried to make a standard trainer’s journey story based in Leaf Green, and with this chapter Chronicles of Tajiria has gone beyond those age-old meager efforts. Hooray! And we even get to introduce Spark! Hooray again! Hopefully in the next chapter we can have them take on the gym and make more progress beyond that, but that’s something to worry about then, not now.
> 
> I think I should make something known right now for those who don’t follow me where I post visual art (and where I’ve discussed this a few times previous): Spark is a transgender man. I make this known here because I’m still working out how to bring it up organically without possibly being offensive, so any advice on this sort of thing would be greatly appreciated. At least I know not to say something along the lines of the highly insensitive “Spark used to be (deadname)”, which was one of initially two options for having my typical nickname for female Pikachu be used in some way, and I’m glad I decided not to go down that route because like I said, it’s insensitive. My other initial option was to give him a little sister with that name, hence the little Pichu girl who joins his mom on seeing him off, but then Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon happened and gave me a possible third option. I’ve since been able to take that third option (hence why she’s called Eva and not my usual female Pikachu name), which was to give that nickname to a female Alolan Raichu. Unfortunately you won’t be able to see her for a LONG while unless you follow my DA and Tumblr, but she’s...she’s certainly something, hehehe. And I mean that in a good way.

**Author's Note:**

> Henlo yes I am here with Pokejinka story you like please. Haha, in all seriousness, I’d been debating with myself for a while whether or not to write about my Pokejinka teams and I finally decided to go for it. I intend for this to be a different spin on the typical “trainer goes on their journey” stories, although I don’t know how prevalent Pokejinka team stories are (or even if trainer journeys are prevalent anymore like they were back when I was actually trying to write Pokémon fanfic!) so if they are indeed fairly common then let’s hope I can make this one stand out enough to be it’s own thing. Just a quick bit of in-universe jargon that differentiates from the games themselves: “title” refers to what Pokémon species they would be; in this case, Mikey and Zephyr were my Squirtle and Pidgey in Leaf Green, Hunter was my rival’s Bulbasaur, and (just for giggles) Professor Oak in this universe is a Charizard. Yes, that makes sense even if I weren’t ignoring the egg group rule for couples giving birth in my Pokejinka universe, as all the Kanto starters are in the Monster egg group. I did my research. I ain’t gonna let slightly-above-basic game mechanics get away from me, hehe.
> 
> I’m gonna warn you guys, Team Verdantia is going to be kind of a “boy’s club” until fairly late into the story. This is based on my actual Leaf Green team, and the gender ratios just happened that way to make everyone male except for the last member of the team. If that disappoints anyone, I’m sorry, that’s just how the gender roulette had spun in the game.
> 
> If anyone is curious for more (potentially spoilery) details on Team Verdantia, check out Chronicles of Tajiria on Tumblr with the username “chronicles-of-tajiria”! There’s bios for not only this team, but my teams in other games, as well as some peeks at legendaries and mythicals. It’s also an ask blog, so feel free to ask any of the battlers (of ANY team, not just the one this story is focusing on) anything that’s on your mind while you’re there. Have fun!


End file.
